School holidays are a great time to be creative, explore ideas and make music without worrying about getting it “right”. We’ve put together 10 songwriting challenges to get creative brains moving!
Pick one, pick a few, or work your way through all 10 and see what you come up with:
1. Use fewer than 15 individual words
Write an entire song using fewer than 15 different words. Sometimes you can say more with less.
Repetition is absolutely allowed. In fact, you’ll probably need it. The challenge is seeing how you can get to the point of what you are trying to say using a very limited vocabulary.
2. Write from the perspective of a Disney villain
Choose a Disney villain and write a song from their point of view.
What do they want? Why do they want it? What has gone wrong? Are they really that bad or perhaps just misunderstood?
3. Take an existing song and make it your own
Choose a song you already know and use it as a template.
Keep the phrasing and structure, but completely change the words to create your own story.
It’s a great way to experiment with songwriting when you’re not sure where to start. It will give you a solid verse/chorus layout to work with.
4. Write a song where nothing rhymes
No cat/hat. No fire/desire. No moon/tune.
Nothing rhymes. See if you can still make your lyrics flow and sound good without relying on rhyming words.
5. Use only kitchen items as accompaniment
Your kitchen is now your band.
Pots, wooden spoons, glasses, containers, chopping boards… find some sounds and build a song around them.
Bonus points for creating a surprisingly good drum kit out of things that definitely aren’t musical instruments.
6. Write a song about something completely ordinary
Choose something incredibly boring. A sock. A sandwich. Going to the supermarket. Cleaning your room. Losing your other shoe.
Now make it interesting! Great songwriting can turn an ordinary moment into a great story.
7. Use three random words
Ask someone else to give you three completely unrelated words. Your challenge is to use all three in the same song.
The more ridiculous the words, the better.
8. Change the mood halfway through
Start your song one way and completely change the mood halfway through.Happy to sad. Calm to chaotic. Excited to mysterious.
You decide what happens.
9. Write a song in five minutes
Set a timer for five minutes.No editing. No overthinking. No staring at a blank page for four minutes and 59 seconds.
Just write.
You might surprise yourself with what comes out when you don’t have time to worry about whether it’s good.
10. Write the worst song possible
This might be the most important challenge of all.
Write the absolute worst song you can.
Terrible lyrics. Ridiculous subject. Awful rhymes. Completely over-the-top.
The goal is to make something so bad that it’s good.
NOW GET WRITING!
Songwriting doesn’t have to start with a perfect idea. Sometimes it starts with a silly prompt, a strange combination of words, a saucepan or a terrible first line. The best songs come when you take the pressure off yourself and have some fun with it!
Want to take your songwriting further?
Our next Songwriters Club is on Saturday 10 October, 2–4pm.
Come along, make something, and see what happens.
Comments are closed